Portledge eighth and ninth grade art students have been studying Cubism, the first abstract art style developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque during the turn of the 20th century.
Students in both the drawing and photo media classes are learning how Cubists rejected the old tradition of “perspective,” wherein a subject was depicted from a fixed viewpoint, and instead sought to portray their rapidly changing world from many viewpoints simultaneously.
Eighth-grader Andrew Herzig described the process his group used to explore cubism, “We first started this project by making sketches of our favorite cartoon characters. Then we painted them with water colors, cut them to shreds, glued them back together and pasted them on a background sheet. I have learned what cubism is and how it is made. I think this was a very engaging and fun project.”
Reflecting on his Upper School assignment using the still life of a cello, one of the young artists, ninth Grader Chu Qi (Scout) Jiang said, “To me this project embodied a quality of reality known only to a few. It helped me understand that our own reality could appear in countless different ways. All dazzling and beautiful to behold, we need only to stop and see it.”
The art will be on view at the Tilles Center Patrons’ Lounge from Nov. 14 through Dec. 9 as part of Long Island University’s Student Art Exhibition program, which invites area schools to display artwork for six weeks at a time.
This initiative is all part of a student-centered Portledge program which encourages students to apply creativity and critical thinking skills in all subject areas and to challenge themselves and engage in real world experiences.
